Shadow1980 said:
I gave Halo 5 a chance. I've sunk probably about 8 hours of play time into the beta. I'm already tired of it. It doesn't feel like Halo, but rather like some Frankenstein's monster, a beast cobbled together from the parts of many other shooters. 343i tried to inject multiple "innovations" made in regards to mobility over the past several years (ledge grabbing, thruster packs, ground pounds, sliding, etc.), and the massive ripple effects caused by these changes have fundamentally altered the flow, pacing, and style of combat, resulting in some new thing merely masquerading as Halo.
People may say "Well, this is where the market is headed." And to that I say "Fuck the market." If gamers want a fast-paced twitch shooter in the style of COD or Titanfall, then let them go play COD or Titanfall. Enough with the follow-the-leader bullshit. What's the point in having all these games if they're all becoming increasingly homogenized in terms of game design? It's nonsense on stilts. Let Halo play like Halo, COD like COD, Battlefield like Battlefield, etc., etc. One of the reasons I liked Halo was how different it felt from every other shooter on the market. It did things no one else did. It managed tremendous depth despite the relatively minimalist design. It was slower-paced and more methodical than the blazing fast combat of Quake and Unreal Tournament. But all these new changes are serving to undo what made Halo so distinctive.
If Halo can't survive on its own merits and has to emulate everyone else to stay relevant, well, maybe it's time for the franchise to decline to niche status, if not just die outright. Mario didn't stay relevant by trying to be more like Mega Man or Sonic. Gran Turismo didn't stay relevant by emulating Mario Kart. GTA didn't stay relevant by trying to copy everything Crackdown or Infamous did. Increasing homogenization and an industry-wide desire to copy what the other guy is doing is probably what killed the popularity of fighting games. After the success of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat in the early 90s, the market became saturated with a bunch of "Me too!" games and by the turn of the century the genre had gone from successful to niche, with only SF, MK, and Smash Bros. still retaining some form of mass appeal.
If FPSs keep trying to be more like each other and don't try to really diversify, then the same thing could happen and gamers will get sick of them and move on to something else. COD will stop being the best-selling game each year and start sliding ever further down the charts, Halo will fade towards niche status, Battlefield will die a slow death, and promising new titles in the genre may never be greenlit because the genre is no longer nearly as profitable as it is at present. We may already be starting to see the cracks, with COD declining every year for the last several installments. According to NPD data, U.S. sales during launch month was 9 million for MW3, the series peak, while BlOps2 sold 7.5M, Ghosts sold 6M, and AW sold "only" 4.5M half of what MW3 sold just three Novembers ago. It may be a bitter irony that, by aping each other because they feel they need to "Keep up with the Joneses" in order to stay relevant, they end up losing their relevance.
And this is all to say nothing about the MCC, which remains a thorn in my side. Two months in and it's still broken for me, and I'm about at my breaking point. As far as I'm concerned, 343i have demonstrated themselves to be poor caretakers for the Halo series. From an ill-conceived title update for Reach, to Halo 4's blatant attempts to copy COD's Skinner box progression system, to their art department's total lack of regard for consistency, and now Halo 5 having the most radical departure from the classic Halo formula to date, 343i has done little if anything to endear themselves to me. The coming patch for the MCC will be the determining factor on whether I wash my hands of 343i, and by extension the current generation of Xbox (Halo being the only reason I invested in the brand; if I never discovered Halo I likely would have ignored the Xbox and 360 both). If it's still broken, I'm selling my XBO. I have no interest in Halo 5 now besides the story, and I can simply go over to a friend's house and play it there if need be.
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